Henry William Bunbury (1 July 1750 – 7 May 1811) was an English caricaturist. The second son of Sir William Bunbury, 5th Baronet (see

Bunbury baronets The Bunbury Baronetcy, of Bunbury, Oxon and Stanney Hall in the County of Chester, is a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 29 June 1681 for Thomas Bunbury, Sheriff of Cheshire from 1673 to 1674 and the member of an ancient Che ...

), of Mildenhall, Suffolk, he came of an old

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

family. He was educated at Westminster School and

St Catharine's College, Cambridge St Catharine's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The college is located in the historic city-centre of Camb ...

, and soon showed a talent for drawing, especially for humorous subjects. He temporarily left Cambridge to embark on a tour of Europe, during which time he may have studied in Rome; he returned to school in 1771 but is not known to have completed a degree. His European travels inspired a series of caricatures mocking foreigners, notably his ''La cuisine de la poste'', exhibited at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

in 1770. His more serious efforts were no great success, but his caricatures are as famous as those of his contemporaries Thomas Rowlandson and James Gillray, good examples being his ''Country Club'' (1788), ''Barber's Shop'' (1803) and ''A Long Story'' (1782). He was a popular character, and the friend of most of the notabilities of his day, whom he never offended by attempting political satire; his easy circumstances and social position (he was colonel of the

West Suffolk Militia The West Suffolk Militia was a militia regiment in the United Kingdom from 1759 to 1881, when it was amalgamated into The Suffolk Regiment. The regiment was organised at Bury St. Edmunds in 1759. It was embodied in 1778, at which time it was rank ...

, and was appointed

equerry An equerry (; from French ' stable', and related to 'squire') is an officer of honour. Historically, it was a senior attendant with responsibilities for the horses of a person of rank. In contemporary use, it is a personal attendant, usually up ...

to the Duke of York and Albany in 1787) allowed him leisure to practise his talents. The '' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes his ''A Long Minuet as Danced at Bath'' as the most successful of his lifetime, using an "innovative story-telling" format that is considered a forerunner to the

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

. His caricatures were regularly reissued, even as he turned his attention to other subjects: he finished half of a commissioned set of 48 drawings of Shakespearean works before abandoning the series in 1796, and after the death of his wife and eldest son he took up oil painting. In August 1771 he married Catherine, eldest daughter of Kane William Horneck and his wife Hannah Muggles. Bunbury and Catherine's second son Henry succeeded to the baronetcy.

Gallery

File:Henry Bunbury - A Soiree - B1986.29.334 - Yale Center for British Art.jpg, alt=, ''A Soiree'', watercolor, pen and black ink on medium, cream wove paper, Yale Center for British Art File:Henry Bunbury - The Battle of the Cataplasm - B1977.14.11192 - Yale Center for British Art.jpg, alt=, ''The Battle of the Cataplasm'', hand-colored etching on cream wove paper, Yale Center of British Art File:Dick and Smith seize Chatham (Bunbury).jpg, alt=, ''A Barber's Shop'', copperplate engraving, 1803 File:A barbers shop in assize time by Henry William Bunbury.jpg, alt=, ''A Barbers Shop in Assize Time'', hand-coloured etching and

stipple Stippling is the creation of a pattern simulating varying degrees of solidity or shading by using small dots. Such a pattern may occur in nature and these effects are frequently emulated by artists. Art In printmaking, stipple engraving is ...

engraving, 1818,

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

References

Sources

External links

National Portrait Gallery: Henry William Bunbury
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20170629115616/http://www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk/sebc/visit/paintings-prints.cfm Bunbury prints within the collection of St. Edmundsbury Heritage Servicebr>Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Art Database
British illustrators English caricaturists English illustrators Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge People educated at Westminster School, London 1750 births 1811 deaths {{UK-illustrator-stub